Central Valley Grassland and the Carrizo Plain

In April 2017 we were on our way to Carrizo Plain National Monument, and we stayed a night in Taft at a relatively new Best Western with toilets that were too full and lights that were excessively bright. Views of the starry sky would have to wait for a camping trip at another time. The view of Buena Vista Lake full of water was very gratifying, however.

It is so nice to see terminal lakes filling up. Our watersheds are so heavily developed that the only water that makes it past our dams usually is that which is required by law. But in a year like 2017 there is too much to take, and terminal lakes on both sides of the Sierra start filling up: the Walker River flows to Walker Lake, the Owens River flows to Owens Lake, the Kern River flows to Buena Vista Lake, the Kings River flows to Tulare Lake. Just to name a few. What was once typical is now extraordinary.

I first saw the Carrizo Plain in March 1993 from the top of Caliente Ridge. A dayhike from Cuyama Valley to the highest mountain in San Luis Obispo County was exhausting (30 miles) but revealing--I looked down to the north on a valley filled with colors. Vast blooms of yellow, orange, and purple flowers filled the San Andreas Rift Zone in that wet year following record drought.

I wrote the following essay and published it on my former Website between 2001 and 2005. I reprint it here in my "Best of" category.

There's something about a grassland. The sound of the wind in the grass, the wide open horizons, the spring wildflowers, and one of the most beautiful songs in the world: Western Meadowlarks. The Carrizo Plain is my other favorite place in the world, for these reasons primarily. It sits in a high valley between the Temblor Range and where the Transverse Ranges transition to the Coast Ranges, out of the way of modern "progress," more accurately modern destruction (although it used to have more farms, since abandoned). Since it hasn't been destroyed, but most of the Great Central Valley has, it is the best example of what the Central Valley uplands probably used to be like. Also, not a coincidence, it harbors one of the greatest concentrations of endangered species in California. I think I saw a California Condor there once, and I definitely saw San Joaquin Kit Foxes.

The California Grizzly

There have been many ideas for returning grizzly bears to California. Most of these ideas, such as the Center for Biological Diversity's legal petition in June 2014, focus on the Sierra Nevada. That is understandable, because that is where the most famous and scenic wilderness is, and that is where the last California Grizzly was seen only 90 years ago. Only 90 years ago! But it misses other opportunities and skips a logical selection process that this thoughtful article touches on (see also Wikipedia for other references). In fact, many areas of the state have less people now than there were 90 years ago. These areas are worth considering without putting the Sierra blinders on.

I am not an Environmentalist

A friend of mine shared this article with me recently, prompting me to think of this "Best of" from my former Website, republished below, which touches on many of the ideas mentioned in the article.

I am not an Environmentalist

circa 2001

I don't like stereotypes and labels, and this is no exception. It is too easy for someone to say, "Oh, he thinks that because he's an environmentalist." This devalues the worth of your ideas and allows someone with different ideas to brush them off without even considering them because of who you are.

It Matters What Kind of Bullets You Use

"The Iraqi city of Fallujah has seen a dramatic rise in birth defects and childhood cancer since 2004, when U.S. forces used depleted-uranium shells and white phosphorous against militants. Doctors say the city's birth-defect rate is 14.7 percent--much higher than in Hiroshima after World War II." --The Week, January 20, 2012

After reading this in The Week a couple of months ago, I couldn't help but think this is an "I told you so" moment (and what took the mainstream media so long to notice this story?!!!). This seems like a good time to post another "Best of Beyond the Batholith--Essays from the Eastern Sierra" that I wrote around 2007:

Goodbye ecomafia

On December 18th, 2011, I let my domain name ecomafia.com expire. I first registered it twelve years ago. Even though it has expired, the registrar still has it pointing at this blog, which is where I've had it pointed since I discontinued my Website a year ago. I'll be curious to see if someone else decides it is worth buying for any reason, and when the forwarding will get turned off. Below is my slightly edited explanation of why I chose the name. This explanation used to be posted on the Website.

The idea of "Ecomafia" sprouted on the Negit Islands during summer 1999 CaliforniaGull research. I think it was Justin's idea, but

Seven Solstices

Mike Klapp and I spent seven solstices in a row together watching the sun rise somewhere in the Mono Basin. Well, actually two specific locations: Warren Bench and Black Point. Not the sun, us. This was a grand solstice tradition by the time it ended when Mike

John Muir

I aspire to live like John Muir. He really knew what true freedom is. I've read most of his works and attempted to copy some of his adventures (like his first ascent of the Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney and his ascent of Mt. Ritter minus the near-death part). And he was fallible--it is interesting to read some of his stuff on Central Valley irrigated agriculture; and his thoughts on preventing fire have turned out to be harmful in the long run. Following are some of my favorite John Muir quotes.

"I am losing the precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains and learn the news." --Muir, as quoted by Samuel Hall Young in Alaska Days with John Muir

"No two streams are alike. I fancy I could discriminate between Merced water and all others. Merced water is one thing, Tuolumne another, Kings River another, while town water, deadened and lost, is nothing--not water at all." --August, 1875

"The common purity of Nature is

Apothegms

Nuclear power is "so uneconomical that it is cheaper to write off a newly built nuclear plant than to run it." --Amory Lovins, 1992

A poignant quote in light of Japan's nuclear disaster--not that they needed a man-made disaster on top of two natural ones. Not that anyone needs a technology that is so potentially dangerous in the hands of humans, whether it be the hands of terrorists, governments, or power companies--requiring loss of freedom and excess militarization to lock it up as well as we can against any threat. Now insuring nuclear plants will get even more expensive, and our government will insist on continuing to subsidize it instead of spending the money on safe renewable energy like solar and wind that can come online in a fraction of the time as a nuclear power plant. So, to honor the painful irony of that quote, and celebrate the wondrous insights and inspiration contained in pithy aphorism, I'm reprinting here the apothegms page I used to have on Beyond the Batholith--Essays from the Eastern Sierra, and including new ones as I find them worthy of this page. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

apothegm, n. a short, pithy saying; aphorism aphorism, n. a terse saying embodying a general truth or astute observation

"Humanity now appropriates for its own use more than half of Earth's

Water Supply Solution: How California can thrive during the next mega-drought

The main constraints to having sustainable water systems (both human and natural) in California are not technological or economic, but political and social. There is a very simple (simple to lay out but hard to politically follow through) process we need to go through to achieve sustainability. And if the word "sustainability" rubs you or your audience the wrong way, then just replace it with "reliability" which means the same thing over the long term.

Right now we try to "use" every bit of water we can. In a variable climate like California's, and with a water rights system like ours, that is a recipe for disaster--we expand our "needs" in wet years and they must inevitably contract in dry years. This is not sustainable, or reliable, or any way to try to build anything stable. The Westlands (a low-priority water right) should never have been irrigated because

Renewable Energy Gold Rush

NIMBY and the Psychology of Protected Areas

December 2009

There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
--Wendell Berry

2009 is the year of the renewable energy boom. Renewable energy projects that start construction by the end of 2010 can get 30% of the construction costs federally subsidized. Booms and busts have had great impacts on California and the West before, and those impacts will continue as we madly dash toward a carbon-free energy system.

The Eastern Sierra is already a renewable energy colony of the rest of the state and a water colony of Los Angeles too. We already produce, use, and export electricity generated from dammed streams, deadened geysers, and dropping water tables.

But it isn't enough. Now renewable energy prospectors are looking for sites where they can build new dams and hydroelectric plants. There is a proposal for

How to create a socially responsible oil company

Tonight (due to the documentary on marijuana on CNBC) I was thinking about how people that smoke pot without knowing where it comes from are probably supporting the Mexican Mafia and its horrible murderous acts. It reminded me of an essay I wrote on my Website in 2000, 2001, or 2002 when I didn't have a car. It was about boycotting all oil companies because they all did such horrible things. How could you be a willing customer of someone/something so evil?

At the time, the research I did on the Internet turned up zero oil companies with records clean enough that would make me want to do business with them.

The oil companies I researched back then were: BP and Oxy, Shell and Chevron, Texaco and Maxus, Unocal, Arco, Exxon, Mobil, and Amoco. Their crimes and transgressions included human rights violations (Colombia, Nigeria, Alaska, Ecuador, Burma, Thailand, Cameroon, Chad, Central America), spills and related environmental impacts, massive CO2 emissions, and being members of the Global Climate Coalition that claimed Global Warming was a myth.

I'm sure some things have changed, although the press surrounding the BP oil disaster this year leads me to believe that most oil companies are stuck in the old, outdated, and simply evil ways of doing business.

The logical next step: stop buying anything from them. But how to live without oil?

Welcome (back)

My previous Website was "Sustainable Use and Restoration of California's Natural Environment," found at www.ecomafia.com from about 1998 to 2008. Ecomafia was a novel I never had time to write. In 2008 I changed it to www.reisvalleyandmudville.com (a new book I wanted to write about my dad, who passed away that year). And in 2010 I canceled the site, and the new domain name, saving a few bucks, and keeping an eye out for a free place to host it. It was time for a change.

Well, ever since I discontinued my site I've been thinking about how to find an outlet for my essays. My ideas are too good (or at least thought provoking!) to keep to myself. Plus I had a few good essays on the old site that would be nice to put back up somewhere. The old site had five sections: Inspiration (quotes, lyrics, humor), The Realist Idealist (sustainable solutions), Glimpses of the Golden State (California geography and history), The Other Side of the Batholith (essays from the Eastern Sierra), and Resources and Links.

So here's the plan. I'll start off by posting the "best of" ecomafia.com and reisvalleyandmudville.com, revised, updated, and edited. I've changed since then, and so has the world. A lot of my resources and links are no longer relevant, surpassed by far better resources--and better compilations of them! When I started a Website about sustainability, it was easy to keep track of good resources, but the Internet has grown far too large for me to keep track of.

After I post "the best of," and maybe intermingled with it if I can't wait, I'll post my new essays and ideas... the ones that are worth sharing. And in the midst of all that, there is the book...

Bilderain Adobe in L.A., 1880s

I really really want to write this book already. But the research is daunting. And I don't have lots of time to do it. The general plan of the book is to write about my dad's fascinating life, but to include all his ancestors that I can find. Since my dad kept lots of journals, there is a lot of material to use, but the genealogical research is what is going to take the most time. And since I want to start writing at the beginning, and researching ancestors the farthest back takes the most time, I'm feeling like I'm not going to start writing for a few years. So this blog will be an outlet for that writing energy, and maybe you'll get some interesting updates on the book and the research once in a while. Like Encar. Bilderain, my great-great grandmother who lived here (see photo above right) in Los Angeles, but was born in 1824 in California (according to the 1880 census). The mystery is--where was she born? My dad's papers indicated that she and her husband were from Spain. But the censuses of 1870 and 1880 show California and Mexico as her birthplace. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, so if she was born 3 years earlier she could have been born in Spanish California. And what of her husband, Ignacio? By the time of the U.S. censuses, she was widowed, so those aren't too helpful for his information.

My cousin Brian did a family history of my mom's side of the family, and his effort is inspirational for my attempts to delve into my dad's side. What an interesting journey this will continue to be.